Exercise #3 Answers
The Online "Ref Desk" Collection, continued
1. What does an earthquake sound like? [FindSounds]
Searched earthquake – got 21 results. Mainly earthquakes sound like someone is
blowing into the microphone ;)
2. Find videos about using a library that are more than three minutes in length.
[SingingFish]
Searched library instruction limited to > 3 min and video only – got 1432 hits
with a lot from the Library of Congress that weren't pertinent. Added –congress to
the library instruction search terms and got 900 hits with some very good videos
(see, for example, #3 NFO Videos for Faculty Center Information Literacy –
Library Cal Poly Pomona)
3. I heard an interview on NPR with a woman who was recently awarded the Pritzker
Prize for architecture. I'd like to find it. [NPR Audio Archive]
Searched pritzker prize – 1st hit a May 26, 2004 interview with the winner Zaha
Hadid.
4. Find out if they've had a segment on the Patriot Act and libraries. [Online
NewsHour Video Search]
Searched patriot act libraries – 3d hit "Libraries and Liberties" 6/16/04
5. Find photographs of last Fall's southern California fires. [Weather Underground]
Clicked on Wunder News Photos on left sidebar > clicked on Search Our Image
Archive in middle of page > selected State California and Categories Fire – got
more than 100 photos, most of them related to the fires last fall.
6. Check to see if your library or other favorite website is in the Wayback Machine.
[Internet Archive Wayback Machine]
Clicked in the box above the "Take Me Back" button and searched berkeley
public library – got page with three results (2 of which were BPL pages and 1
from the City of Berkeley website) and a "More Pages" link. I saw that the earliest
URL for BPL was www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/bpl so went back and searched on that
and found 12 instances of the home page going back to October 10, 1997. The first
instance had a copyright date going back to 1995 (in case Berkeley ever wants to
track down when it first had a web page.
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2004 and Beyond Summer 2004 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the
provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use of this material
should credit the author and funding source.
7. What kind of knot is in the rope on the Venezuela Scouts flag? [Flags of the World
(FOTW)]
Browsed by country to Venezuela page and clicked on see also to Venezuela –
Scouts Flag – it's a reef knot (called square knot in the US)
8. Find a local-to-you place to donate old cell phones. [Earth 911]
Entered my zip (postal) code in box in upper left > click on Cell Phone and
Computer Recycling > clicked on Electronics – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Options > clicked on Reuse (as my old phone still works) > clicked on Cellphone
and Equipment Reuse/Recycle Sites – found a Verizon Wireless office 2.88
miles and a Staples 5.08 miles from my zip code.
9. Is The Age a reputable newspaper? Why? It's from Australia. [worldnewspapers.com]
Selected Australia in "Search news source by" dropdown box > The Age is listed
as affiliated with the Sydney Morning Herald. The Sydney Morning Herald's
listing says it's a "top quality national daily." Went to The Age website and found it
has been around for 150 years, has very good policies and services. I agree with
the evaluation of the world-newspapers.com above.
10. I recently read a guidebook about London during WWII that talked about people
eating whale meat more than once. Can you help me find the book and the page(s)
where whale meat is mentioned? [Amazon.com]
Searched "whale meat" london – first hit London's War: A Traveler's Guide to
World War II. Page 94 is mentioned with a link to "See more reference…" >
clicked on that link and found another page – page 166 and a "Search inside this
book" box. Since I'd already found the book, I no longer needed the reference to
"london" so cut it and searched again > and got a third page reference (page 167)
which said "It was almost enough to make whale meat palatable.”
Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2004 and Beyond Summer 2004 - This material has been created by
Carole Leita for the Infopeople Project [infopeople.org], supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the
provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian. Any use of this material
should credit the author and funding source.